End-of-Year Gmail Decluttering. School Admin Essentials

As over 170 million teachers and students worldwide use Google Workspace for Education, most of them rely on Gmail daily.

Nowadays, email is often a necessary evil for students: they use it mainly for official communication with the school and other institutions. Since their first choice channel is social media apps, they may lack the skills to use Gmail effectively and safely.

That’s why their Google inboxes get messy over time. 

As a school admin, you may want to reorganize user email accounts to start the new year with nice and clean inboxes and/or to comply with your school’s policies on data retention and storage. Both reasons are great to start Gmail decluttering right now.

My Gmail is Chaos. Where Do I Start?

You manage hundreds of users, each with their own working habits. Thousands of emails were sent and received throughout the year. Some of them contain heavy attachments or suspicious content, or just aren’t worth keeping.

You could ask yourself, desperately: Is it even possible to control ALL Gmail inboxes at the school?

Answer: Yes, but it’s much easier to achieve after a general cleanup. Then you can implement a centralized tool to manage and audit all Gmail accounts.

One tool to rule them all, one tool to find them, one tool to bring them all and in the admin’s command centre bind them [Spoiler alert: you can read about This Tool here].

But let’s start over. As the first step, we recommend general email auditing and, ideally, a professional penetration test. This investigation phase will show you areas to address and a direction toward a less cluttered, more secure Gmail. That way, you will gain two valuable insights:

1. Detailed Gmail Report (number of all users, inboxes, and emails; user email activity; storage-consuming attachments; all files shared to Gmail accounts, inbox permissions, etc.)
2. Cybersecurity Weak Links (phishing and spam patterns, data leaks likelihood, risky user behaviour, ongoing needs for stronger cybersecurity measures, and deeper education)

Implement a comprehensive solution to capture all users’ email activity in your Google Workspace for Education. It’s your personalized starting point to conquer Gmail mess and tighten cybersecurity in your school.

 7 Steps of Highly Effective Gmail Clean Up

After conducting the email audit, you will have identified your priority areas to improve. In addition to these, there are a few tasks worth doing anyway to optimize your efforts and save time. Try these seven tips to tidy up all Gmail accounts at your school.

1. Empty the Spam Folder

I bet most of your users only check this folder to find an email they should have received but didn’t show up in their inbox.

However, apart from lost-and-found messages, the spam folder usually contains what its name means – tons of emails nobody wants. Over 70% of them include unrequested giveaways and job opportunities (both of which are potential scams in a student’s inbox). Therefore, cleaning out the spam folder also contributes to your cybersecurity by reducing the risk of exposing sensitive data.

There are two ways to delete the spam folder content:

• Manual Removal

Slower and less reliable, as you need to count on each user’s responsibility to complete the task. When emptying the spam folder, students can be tempted to open and click on some scam emails, increasing the risk of phishing.

• Automated Bulk Removal

Faster and more secure when using GAT+ and GAT Unlock. You can search for all spam and phishing emails in real time and schedule their automated removal, either in bulk or one by one. 

2. Review Email Signatures Consistency

Consistent email footers across your school network support efficient internal communication and create a professional image of the school as a trustworthy partner for parents and stakeholders.

As a school admin managing a high number of Gmail accounts, you have three options to achieve consistent email signatures across the school domain:

• Manual Signature Personalization

Requesting that each user customize their email signatures according to a school-approved pattern won’t guarantee full consistency or on-time task completion.

• Default Signature Setup

Create the same signature for everyone in the Google Admin Console, allowing users to add additional information and images manually. Rencon with diverse signatures across groups and grades.

• Automated Bulk Email Signature Management

GAT Flow’s email signature management goes beyond Google’s basic feature by customizing email signatures with user attributes and templates for a group or OUs. It gives you flexibility and complete control over all email signatures in your domain.

Automate your Email Signature Management in Google Workspace for Education

3. Optimize Gmail Organization

Imagine piles of files, documents, and notes on your desk. To-do lists mixed with notes on different topics and tons of letters from various recipients. You would rather run away than touch this unfriendly stack. That’s how a messy inbox without any categorization or prioritization pretty much looks.

Solution? School-wide Gmail labelling and filtering system. It improves collaboration between students and teachers, boosts productivity, and reduces the risk of stress and burnout.

• Gmail Bulk Filters

Although all Gmail users can create filtering rules, bulk filter management can be a time-saver for school admins. Instead of each user configuring the Google feature individually, add or update email filters in bulk and apply them to all users at once. Maintain filter consistency and improve the Gmail experience for everyone.

• Gmail Bulk Labels

Colorful labels, just like in offline life, let you clearly see your resources. Some users may already have implemented categorization in Gmail. If you want to keep the labelling coherence across the school, remove them all first with GAT Flow, then automatically set up the email labelling system for students, teachers, and other user groups in bulk.

4. Remove Big Email Attachments 

Heavy email attachments are like the stuff in the attic: you hold them just in case, but in the meantime, they consume your valuable storage space.

Be decisive when handling this challenge, because it’s not only about email decluttering; it’s also about money. Many educational institutions overpay for Google storage, while optimising their space usage would significantly reduce their expenses.

• User’s Task: Encourage users to identify large files in their Google apps so they are aware of how much storage they use and can start decluttering Gmail on their own. 

• Admin’s Task: Audit storage-consuming files by user and type, and automatically delete them according to your school’s policy (e.g., after user offboarding or 90 days of inactivity) with GAT Flow.

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The following steps should be taken by users themselves. Prepare clear instructions for them on how to complete these tasks so they can efficiently declutter their Gmail and ensure school-wide consistency.

5. Unsubscribe from Unwanted Newsletters

Newsletter subscriptions tend to magically multiply on their own, filling inboxes with dozens of unwanted emails every month.

The next time you see a new newsletter in Gmail, think carefully about whether you still need to receive it. Don’t want to waste time opening it? Here’s the answer! Fewer subscriptions mean less email clutter, helping students and teachers focus on what really matters.

6. Archive Old Emails

Mark completed tasks and finished conversations in Gmail by sending them to your archive. This is an alternative to deleting them, as archived emails are easier to recover. 

Not sure if a task has been completed? That doesn’t have to stop you. If someone follows up on a thread you have archived, it will automatically return to your primary inbox.

7. Clear Out Never-Sent Drafts

Last but not least. The Drafts folder is an incredible treasure trove full of unfinished messages, interrupted thoughts, and noted-down ideas. Reorganizing this space will remind you of pending tasks you may have forgotten and give you peace of mind. How satisfying it is to start the new year with an empty Drafts folder!

Close This Year with Deep Gmail Cleaning

So, that’s it, Google admin. Believe me, your everyday email management is made way easier with regular Gmail decluttering at the end of the year or during the summer break.

Decluttering Gmail improves everyone’s productivity and raises motivation. Teachers will feel less overwhelmed by too many emails, students will find their assignments easier, and you, admin, will rest assured that your Gmail is a secure and efficient tool.

Want to see how to automate the end-of-the-year Gmail decluttering with GAT Labs’ tools? Contact us to book a free demo with our Support Team to explore new GAT features for your school.

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